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Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 352
** ** ** ** ** *** Eany and Meany. Maggott's slugs. ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * * Antagonists: * ** ** ** ** Other Characters: * "Entity". A mysterious alien presence. * * * * * * ** * * * * * ** ** "Charley". Name or nickname of one of the agents. * Airplane passengers: ** ** ** Doctor Sibelius. ** Carla, flight attendant. Races and Species: * * * * Locations: * ** ** *** ( *** **** *** Southwestern United States **** Red Desert ***** Prison facility *** **** **** *** **** ** *** **** ***** Items: * Vehicles: * Airplane transporting Cyclops, Phoenix, and the "Entity". * A.I.M. aircraft | Notes = *Cyclops' flashback involving the suicide of the Phoenix Force derives from X-Men Vol 1 137 (September, 1980). It is identified here as the most distressing memory of his life. This was originally supposed to be the death of Jean Grey, but was latter retconned to the death of a doppelganger entity. *Cyclops comment about feeling like he is about to give birth to Brood refers to a past experience. He almost did give birth to a Brood in Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 166 (February, 1983), before he was purged of the embryo. *The animosity between Wolverine and Marrow in this issue connects it to X-Men Vol 2 72 (February, 1998), where the two fight each other. *Cannonball temporarily leaves the X-Men to visit X-Force. He appears in X-Force Vol 1, issues #75- 76 (March–April, 1998), where he considers rejoining this team. The problem is that Samuel considers Tabitha Smith (Meltdown) to still be his girlfriend. When he catches her making out with Sunspot, he is emotionally hurt and quickly returns to the X-Men. *Despite the prominent role of the "Entity" and her psionic powers in this issue, the character never appeared again. She was last depicted in the custody of Department H. At the time, the Department was featured in Alpha Flight Vol 2 (1997-1999). This version of the Department was a secretive and manipulative organization, controlling a version of Alpha Flight through unethical methods. The safety of the "Entity" in their hands was rather questionable. *The Marvel Chronology Project, which tracks character appearances, has the following information about the characters of the issue: **Archangel appears here following Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 350 (December, 1997). His next chronological appearance is in X-Men Unlimited Vol 1 17 (December, 1997). **Beast appears here following X-Men Vol 2 71 (January, 1998). His next chronological appearance is in Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 429 (December, 1997). **Cannonball appears here following X-Men Vol 2 71 (January, 1998). His next chronological appearance is in X-Men Vol 2 72 (February, 1998). **Cyclops appears here following Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 351 (January, 1998). His next chronological appearance is in Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 353 (March, 1998). **Eany and Meany appear here following X-Men Vol 2 71 (January, 1998). Their next chronological appearance is in Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 354 (April, 1998). **Joseph appears here following X-Men Vol 2 71 (January, 1998). His next chronological appearance is in X-Men Vol 2 72 (February, 1998). **Maggott appears here following X-Men Vol 2 71 (January, 1998). His next chronological appearance is in X-Men Vol 2 72 (February, 1998). **Marrow appears here following X-Men Vol 2 71 (January, 1998). Her next chronological appearance is in the second story of X-Men Unlimited Vol 1 18 (April, 1998). **Phoenix appears here following Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 351 (January, 1998). Her next chronological appearance is in Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 353 (March, 1998). **Rogue appears here following X-Men Vol 2 71 (January, 1998). Her next chronological appearance is in Spider-Man/Kingpin: To the Death Vol 1 1 (November, 1997). **Wolverine appears here following Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 351 (January, 1998). His next chronological appearance is in Elektra Vol 1 10 (September, 1997). *Marrow is the only X-Man in this issue who is genuinely happy to see Archangel. It has been otherwise established that she remembers him from her childhood, and that she considers him the most beautiful man she knows. This issue hints that she has a crush on Warren. Which explains her somewhat affectionate behavior towards him. *While described as a firebird-like creature, the "Entity" in this issue is not particularly avian in appearance. It seems to be a fiery humanoid, with a ghost-like presence. She haunts people by interacting with their minds. *While Archangel defends himself and Psylocke from accusations that they have been neglecting the X-Men and ignoring the needs of their teammates, most of the charges at least seem to be true. The couple have not been depicted interacting much with the X-Men for quite some time, and they were conspicuously absent from several storylines where the X-Men could use help. The issue simply addresses their absence as a conscious choice. | Trivia = *The subplot about the X-Men finding out that the Department H is back in action, serves mostly to advertise Alpha Flight Vol 2 (1997-1999). The writer of this X-Men issue, Steven T. Seagle, was the main writer of Alpha Flight Vol 2. He wrote or co-wrote the series from issue 1 to 20 (August, 1997-March, 1999), all the regular issues of the series. He also wrote a prequel to the series (Alpha Flight Vol 2 -1, July, 1997). *In this issue Jean Grey uses the eyes of birds to scan out areas of the United States of America in search of the missing Professor X. This is a new use of her powers and the narration comments that she is pushing past the limits of her powers. This is probably an early hint to a storyline Steven T. Seagle had in mind, where Jean increasingly becomes more Phoenix-like in powers and personality. He introduced a number of subplots to this direction in later issues of Uncanny X-Men, but the editors rejected his ideas and the storyline never materialized. *Despite the subplot about Jean Grey stubbornly searching for the missing Professor X, at the time there were no immediate plans for the return of the character. The Professor returned in "The Hunt for Xavier" crossover which took place in Uncanny X-Men Vol 1, issues #362-364 (December, 1998-January, 1999) and X-Men Vol 2, issues 82-84 (December, 1998-February, 1999). *Every named or mentioned agent of A.I.M. in this issue is codenamed after a famous scientist. **Agent Euclid is named after Euclid of Alexandria (3rd century BC). He was a mathematician active in the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt and is credited as the father of geometry. Euclidean geometry consisted of previously known or theorized elements of geometry, fit together in a comprehensive deductive and logical system. Until the 19th century, almost all geometric works were based on his system. **Agent Copernicus is named after Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543). He was a polymath, mathematician, and astronomer from Royal Prussia. He is mostly remembered for his Heliocentric model of the universe, placing the Sun (Greek "Helios") rather than the Earth at the center of the universe. He thus questioned and replaced the dominant Geocentric model of his era. Following his death, other scientists adopted his model of the universe and developed theories based on it. The so-called Copernican Revolution profoundly changed the scientific understanding of the world. **Agent Kepler is named after Johannes Kepler (1571–1630), a mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer from the Holy Roman Empire. He is best known for Kepler's laws of planetary motion, three scientific laws describing the motion of planets around the Sun. They are considered foundational material of both astronomy and physics. **Agent Newton is named after Isaac Newton (1642– 1727), a physicist, natural philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, and alchemist from the Kingdom of England. He was a polymath with key achievements in several fields, though he is best remembered for Newtonian mechanics (also known as classical mechanics), a set of physical laws describing the motion of bodies under the influence of a system of forces. It affected most scientific concepts of universal forces until the 20th century. **Agent Planck is named after Max Planck (1858–1947), a theoretical physicist from Germany. He is known for several achievements in physics, though best remembered as a pioneer of Quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics was an entirely new field when he produced his key work on it. *The firebird-description of the "Entity", her extraordinary psionic powers, her fiery feminine form, her otherworldly origin, and her friendly interaction with Jean Grey are all reminiscent of the Phoenix Force. Writer Steven T. Seagle mentioned in interviews that he wanted to revisit that character. In this issue, he seems to be using a substitute of it. *The cover of the issue boasts about the issue having more artists than any other single issue. They do have a point, since there are six pencillers and six inkers in this issue. However this leads to some very inconsistent depictions of the major and minor characters of this issue. For example, Cyclops goes from sporting a small beard to being clean-shaven within pages. Neither the art, nor the inking of the artists are a particularly close fit for each other. The issue keeps changing drawing styles, which makes it rather strange-looking. | Recommended = | Links = * plot summary at uncannyxmen.net }}